No abstract

Recent investigations have elucidated the influence of the Strong Black Woman (SBW) Schema on the mental health and treatment seeking behaviors of Black women in the United States. However, the SBW schematic characteristics that produce depression have yet to be identified. The current study fills this void in the literature through a quantitative examination of how characteristics of the SBW Schema relate to depressive symptomology. Analyses were based on 194 participants, including college students (n = 98) and community members (n = 96), ranging in age from 18 to 82 years-old (M = 37.53, SD = 19.88). As hypothesized, various manifestations of self-silencing were found to significantly mediate the relationship between the perceived obligation to manifest strength (a SBW characteristic) and depressive symptomatology. The present study advances the idea that depressive symptoms are related to endorsement of the SBW Schema and highlights selfsilencing as a mechanism by which this relationship occurs. These results offer evidence and clarification of the impact of the SBW Schema on Black women's mental health and identify specific points of intervention for mental health practitioners conducting therapeutic work with Black women. We provide recommendations for future research to avoid pathologizing strength and we discuss the implications and potential benefits of integrating a Womanist theoretical perspective into counseling for Black women, a population that has historically underutilized mental health resources.

Across varied disciplines, attempts have been made to capture the multidimensionality of Black womanhood under a unifying framework illustrative of Black women's perceived roles, responsibilities, and experiences of intersectional oppression. The result has been the emergence of a number of divergent but overlapping constructs (e.g., Superwoman Schema, Sojourner Truth Syndrome, Sisterella Complex, and Strong Black Woman [SBW] Schema). The goal of our study is to integrate overlapping attributes of existing constructs beneath a single term while also expounding upon the defining characteristics of the SBW Schema. Thematic analyses were conducted with data gathered from eight focus groups with 44 Black women from the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Women ranged in age from 18 to 91 and were diverse in religious and educational backgrounds. Data analysis involved iterative processes (i.e., continuous development of new codes and constant comparison of themes). Prominent themes identified as characteristics of the SBW Schema were (a) Embodies and Displays Multiple Forms of Strength, (b) Possesses Self/Ethnic Pride in Spite of Intersectional Oppression, (c) Embraces Being Every Woman, and (d) Anchored by Religion/Spirituality. Mental and physical health outcomes (e.g., psychological distress, depressive symptomology, obesity, and cardiovascular disease risk) associated with characteristics of the SBW Schema underscore the importance of the construct and its exploration.

This study examined the psychometric properties of a revised version of the Colonial Mentality Scale in a sample Ghanaian young adults (CMS-G; N = 431). In addition, the degree to which mental health and self-and group-concept was effected by internalized notions of colonial mentality was assessed. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to evaluate the underlying factor structure of the CMS-G. The findings indicated that the CMS-G produced a four-factor orthogonal model as best representing the construct of colonial mentality among Ghanaian young adults. CMS-G scores correlated in the anticipated direction with self-esteem, collective self-esteem, anxiety, and depression. Additional analyses indicated that Ghanaian young adults endorsed colonial mentality items associated with